Strauss 'thankful' for draw

Strauss: Praised Collingwood

We've not given away too much momentum, which is important in back-to-back Tests. We are just very, very thankful to get a draw and we can take pride in the fight we showed

Andrew Strauss
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England captain Andrew Strauss admitted he was "very, very thankful" to escape with a draw at the end of a dramatic first Ashes Test against Australia.

The hosts needed last-wicket pair James Anderson and Monty Panesar to see out 69 deliveries to stave off the threat of defeat in the final hour of the fifth day of the series opener in Cardiff.

Needing to bat out the final day with eight wickets in hand, England looked set to suffer defeat when they slumped to 127-6 in the afternoon session.

However, Paul Collingwood stood firm for nearly six hours to make a gritty 74 and, after the Durham batsman became the ninth wicket to fall, Anderson and Panesar survived through to the close.

Outstanding

"All day we were not quite in the contest. All credit must go to Paul Collingwood - what a knock that was. He was outstanding," Strauss said.

"He does it time and time again for us in pressure situations. I can't say enough good things about hoe he played today.

"Also we have to mention Monty and Jimmy. I feel bad that they had to be in that situation because the batsmen shouldn't have let them get in that position, but they showed a lot of character.

"To be fair they kept their heads and in a pressure situation that is a hard thing to do. We are proud of them and we are proud to come out of the Test with a draw but we are also aware that we have a lot of work to do between now and Wednesday.

"We've not given away too much momentum, which is important in back-to-back Tests. We are just very, very thankful to get a draw and we can take pride in the fight we showed."

While delighted to have survived, Strauss admitted that England would have to perform a lot better in the second Test, which gets underway on Thursday at Lord's.

"We had chances early on," the Middlesex batsman added. "We didn't take those chances and Australia played well.

"We've got to perform better than we did this week, there's no doubt about that. Thankfully we're in a position where it's still 0-0.

"We will have a look at how things went in this game, get away from the emotion of it all, and come up with a side to take on the Aussies on Thursday."

Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, who was named man of the match for his 150, refused to be too downhearted despite failing to finish off England.

Really proud

"I am disappointed we didn't win the game, I thought we played well enough over the five days," he said.

"But I am still really proud of the boys. We can take a lot of heart out of the game although we came up a bit short in the end. Give England credit as well.

"I think we can take a lot of heart out of what we did in this game. We haven't done anything wrong right since losing the toss. Although we have come up a little bit short today, we have a lot to take out of this game.

"There are four Tests to go and we will have to play at this level if we want to win the series."